A house was set on fire during a missing teen search that resulted in three people being shot, including two 14-year-olds.
What We Know:
- The incident resulted in non-life-threatening injuries. The Milwaukee police are calling this “vigilantism” with no proper facts but rumors.
- Several rumors have been spread online due to the ongoing investigation of two missing teens, ages 13 and 15, leading to chaos and violent interactions between the crowds and police.
- Police were called about the disappearances of the two girls and informed the families that they could not place an “amber alert” search since the girls are not considered within the age limit. However, in the state of Wisconsin, the age limit is 17 years of age and under for amber alerts.
- The people united together and conducted a search of their own and asked police to investigate a Washington Park home previously suspected of being a sex trafficking hub. The police claimed they visited the house with no signs of the girls.
https://twitter.com/ElBartoArmy/status/1275862649822154753?s=20
- Interviews conducted by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel stated the following: “An extraordinary example of just how deeply rooted the frustration and mistrust in the police can be in Milwaukee’s communities of color.”
- During the chaotic saga, the civilian-led search clashed with the police that resulted in 10 officers and a firefighter injured, a house set on fire twice, and an unknown number of crowds wounded by tear gas and rubber bullets.
- The missing teen search was trending on Twitter in Milwaukee, along with a string of videos contradicting what the police stated before.
https://twitter.com/deion____/status/1276027983308840963?s=20
- The police continued to state they visited the home multiple times but did not find the girls, and the girls still could not be considered for an “amber alert” since they did not believe their “lives were in danger.”
- The girls were later found 3 miles away from the alleged house and denied ever being in the house. The police stated that the rumors, social media-fueled violent chaos, and the allegations of a sex trafficking ring were simply not true. The tenants of the home were interviewed by WISN 12 News and said the following:
This is still labeled as a preliminary investigation and investigators are working with the families to have a better timeline of the events that resulted in three people dying along with a string of injuries as for the tenants of the burned house, they have lost all their belongings due to the fire and the rumors that were created on social media.
